U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Designation 

of Additional Members of the Special Exposure Cohort 

under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

Designating a Class of Employees 

Dow Chemical Company 

Pittsburg, California 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Dow Chemical Company, Pittsburg, California 
I. Designation 

I, Sylvia M. Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

(HHS), designate the class of employees defined in Section II of this report for addition to 

the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC), as authorized under the Energy Employees Occupational 

Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q. 

 May 21, 2015 [Signature on File] 

Date Sylvia M. Burwell 

II. Employee Class Definition 

All Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked for Dow Chemical Company 

in Pittsburg, California, from October 1, 1947, through June 30, 1957, for a number 

of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring either solely under this 

employment or in combination with work days within the parameters established for 

one or more other classes of employees included in the Special Exposure Cohort. 

III. Designation Criteria and Recommendations 

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, for the class defined in Section II of this report, the Secretary 

has determined, and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (Board) has 

recommended, that 

(1) It is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the class 

received; and 

(2) There is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have endangered the 

health of members of the class. 

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations to 

estimate the radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, the rule 

states that radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if NIOSH has 

established that it has access to sufficient information to estimate the maximum radiation 

dose, for every type of cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed, that could have 

been incurred under plausible circumstances by any member of the class. Alternatively, 

radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if NIOSH has established that it 

has access to sufficient information to estimate the radiation doses of members of the class 

more precisely than a maximum dose estimate. 

NIOSH determined that there is insufficient information to estimate the radiation dose of 

individual members of the class with sufficient accuracy under the two abovementioned 

situations. The Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, advised the Secretary to designate the 

class as an addition to the SEC in a letter received by the Secretary on April 24, 2015. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 2 

Dow Chemical Company, Pittsburg, California 
IV. Designation Findings 

Infeasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy 

The Secretary designates the class of employees covered by this report based upon the 

findings summarized below. 

	 Principal sources of internal radiation exposures for members of the proposed class 

included exposures to uranium contained in phosphate ores commercially processed 

to manufacture phosphate fertilizers and phosphate chemicals. The modes of 

potential exposure were inhalation and ingestion of uranium and its progeny during 

wet chemistry separation work, including evaporation and condensation operations to 

perform sample analyses. 

	 NIOSH has not located documentation giving any indication of a routine internal 

personnel exposure monitoring program for the period under evaluation. No internal 

monitoring or air sample data have been located by NIOSH. Without personnel 

radiation monitoring data representing the period from October 1, 1947, through June 

30, 1957, NIOSH has insufficient information to appropriately characterize 

radioactive material intakes during Atomic Energy Commission operations. 

	 Consequently, NIOSH has determined that it does not have access to personnel 

monitoring, workplace monitoring, or sufficient source term data to estimate with 

sufficient accuracy internal exposures to uranium and its progeny, and for Dow 

Chemical Company workers for the period from October 1, 1947, through June 30, 

1957. 

	 Principal sources of external radiation exposures for members of the proposed class 

included exposures to natural uranium and its progeny during development of a wet 

chemistry recovery process. 

	 NIOSH has not located any indication of external personnel exposure monitoring for 

the period under evaluation. NIOSH’s research indicates personnel monitoring for 

external exposure to radiological materials was not performed. No records or 

documentation of any program for external dose monitoring have been located. 

	 Consequently, NIOSH has determined that it does not have access to personnel 

monitoring, workplace monitoring, or sufficient source term data to estimate with 

sufficient accuracy external exposures for Dow Chemical Company workers exposed 

during the development of uranium recovery operations from October 1, 1947, 

through June 30, 1957. 

	 NIOSH finds that it is likely feasible to reconstruct occupational medical dose for 

Dow Chemical Company by using claimant-favorable assumptions and the Technical 

Information Bulletin, Dose Reconstruction from Occupational Medical X-Ray 

Procedures (ORAUT-OTIB-0006). 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 3 

Dow Chemical Company, Pittsburg, California 
	 Although NIOSH found that it is not possible to completely reconstruct radiation 

doses for the proposed class, NIOSH intends to use any internal and external 

monitoring data that may become available for an individual claim (and that can be 

interpreted using existing NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or procedures). 

Therefore, dose reconstructions for individuals employed at Dow Chemical Company 

in Pittsburg, California, during the period from October 1, 1947, through June 30, 

1957, but who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may be performed using these 

data as appropriate. 

	 Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH determined that there is insufficient 

information to either: (1) estimate the maximum radiation dose for every type of 

cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed that could have been incurred 

under plausible circumstances by any member of the class; or (2) estimate the 

radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a maximum dose 

estimate. 

	 The Board concurred with NIOSH’s recommendation to add the proposed class of 

workers to the SEC. 

Health Endangerment 

The Secretary established the health endangerment determination for the class of employees covered 

by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

(1)	 Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3), NIOSH established that there is a reasonable likelihood 

that such radiation doses may have endangered the health of members of the class. Pursuant 

to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii), NIOSH specified a minimum duration of employment to satisfy 

this health endangerment criterion as “having been employed for a number of work days 

aggregating at least 250 work days within the parameters established for this class or in 

combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of 

employees in the Cohort.” 

(2)	 NIOSH did not identify any evidence from the petitioners or from other resources that would 

establish that the class was exposed to radiation during a discrete incident likely to have 

involved exceptionally high-level exposures, such as a nuclear criticality incident, as defined 

under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(i). 

(3)	 The Board concurred with NIOSH’s finding that the health of the class may have been 

endangered and defined the class according to the 250-work day requirement specified under 

42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii). 

V.	 Effect and Effective Date of Designation 

The Secretary submits this report on the designation of one additional class to the SEC for 

review by Congress, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384l(14)(C)(ii) and 7384q(c)(2)(A), as 

amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.). 

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(C)(ii), as amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 4 

Dow Chemical Company, Pittsburg, California 
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended 

in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.), the designation in this report will become effective 30 

days after the date of this report’s submission to Congress “unless Congress otherwise 

provides.” 

VI. Administrative Review of Designation 

The health endangerment determination of the designation provided in this report may be 

subject to an administrative review within HHS, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.18(a). On the 

basis of such a review, if the Secretary decides to expand the class of employees covered by 

this designation, the Secretary would transmit a supplementary report to Congress providing 

the expanded employee class definition and the criteria and findings on which the decision 

was based. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 5 

Dow Chemical Company, Pittsburg, California